U.S. Military Personnel Deployments by Country

200k active troops overseas in 177 countries

There was no shortage of cuts proposed in Trump’s budget for 2018, which was released earlier this week.

However, one of the few departments that did not receive a haircut was the Department of Defense. If the proposed budget ultimately passes in Congress, the DoD would be allocated an extra $54 billion in federal funding – a 10% increase that would be one of the largest one-year defense budget increases in American History.

To put the proposed increase in context, the United States already spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined. Meanwhile, the additional $54 billion is about the size of the United Kingdom’s entire defense budget.

Country

Military Spending (2015)

Share

United States

$596 billion

35.8%

China

$215 billion

12.9%

Saudi Arabia

$87 billion

5.2%

Russia

$66 billion

4.0%

United Kingdom

$55 billion

3.3%

India

$51 billion

3.1%

France

$51 billion

3.1%

Japan

$41 billion

2.5%

Germany

$39 billion

2.4%

South Korea

$36 billion

2.2%

Others

$427 billion

25.6%

“Be All You Can Be”

With over half of all U.S. discretionary spending being put towards the military each year, the U.S. is able to have extensive operations both at home and abroad. Our chart for this week breaks down military personnel based on the latest numbers released by the DoD on February 27, 2017.

In total, excluding civilian support staff, there are about 2.1 million troops. Of those, 1.3 million are on active duty, while about 800,000 are in reserve or part of the National Guard.

On a domestic basis, there are about 1.1 million active troops stationed in the United States, and here’s how they are grouped based on branch of service:

Military Branch

Active Domestic Personnel

As a Percentage

Army

394,236

35%

Navy

283,499

25%

Marine Corps

149,992

13%

Air Force

249,738

22%

Coast Guard

38,659

3%

Total

1,116,124

100%

Internationally, there are just under 200,000 troops that are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world.

Here are the top 20 countries they are stationed in, as well as an “Other” category that represents the rest:

Rank

Country / Territory

U.S. Troops

#1

Japan

39,345

#2

Germany

34,805

#3

South Korea

23,468

#4

Italy

12,102

#5

Afghanistan

9,294

#6

United Kingdom

8,479

#7

Kuwait

6,296

#8

Iraq

5,540

#9

Bahrain

5,504

#10

Guam

3,831

#11

Spain

3,256

#12

Qatar

2,976

#13

Turkey

2,234

#14

Djibouti

1,961

#15

Jordan

1,759

#16

United Arab Emirates

1,079

#17

Belgium

842

#18

Cuba

806

#19

Romania

667

#20

Greece

407

Other / Unknown

34,834

Total

199,485

In 2015, Politico estimated that there are 800 U.S. bases abroad, and that it costs up to $100 billion annually to maintain this international presence.